Media should avoid compromising accuracy for rating: Prime Minister
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf Friday advised media that accuracy should never be compromised at the altar of ratings.He assured the nation that Pakistan would prosperous in near future and urged them for concerted efforts to make it strong and prosperous.
Addressing a gathering at the PM Secretariat at the launch of a book on four-and a-half-year performance of the government, he asked the nation to shun despondency as desperation and hopelessness were a sin in Islam. “The entire nation must rise together irrespective of their religious and political affiliations for the solidarity of Pakistan,” he maintained.
The 378-page book, published by the Directorate of Electronic Media and Publications, titled; “Reconciliation, Reforms and Revival” goes beyond the “official statistics” to include perspectives from external contributors.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira handed over the book to the prime minister.PM said that the media in Pakistan was fully independent. “We take pride that it is playing an eminent and effective role as a watchdog,” he added. He said that the record of the government bore testimony to the fact that it had in no way tried to influence or restrict media freedom. “The media should avoid projecting things that lead to feelings of dejection and despair, about the future of Pakistan,” he added. He urged the media to focus on factual reporting and never compromise on accuracy of facts. “The government’s cause of concern arises when facts are compromised and opinions are presented as facts,” he added. He pointed out that in news reporting there was a constant struggle between speed and accuracy.
“Media, particularly the news channels, to even cut out parts, in which speakers vent their views against Pakistan,” he added. He urged all the political parties to join hands for the progress and prosperity of the country and face the challenges with unity. He said that the government took difficult decisions to face the challenges in 2008 and the country was now making progress in all fields.
He said that Pakistan, being a nuclear power and a determined nation, would foil the desperate attempts of a few people to malign the religion and the country. He said that Malala Yousafzai had emerged as a beacon of light against a mindset, which would not be able to succeed in its nefarious designs.
PM said that Pakistan, which was importing wheat in 2008 when the PPP took over the government, had now become a wheat-exporting country. He said that the PPP-led coalition government had increased the support price of wheat that helped the farmers to grow more crops and today the country had its sufficient stocks. Highlighting the political awareness among the people, he said that the common man was fully aware about the country’s politics and understood the political changes. Referring to various achievements of the government in the last four and a half years, he said that besides taking steps for the welfare of the farmers, workers and peasants, the government increased the salaries of the government servants by 150 percent.
He while appreciating the efforts of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for compiling the achievements of the government in the last four years, urged to do their work honestly. “They will reap benefit of this honesty”, he added. He said that the people would judge the performance of the present government while reading this book and make educated decisions. He said that written things always had a solid footing and the book was evidence that these facts were based on truth.
“The book comprises achievements of the PPP-led coalition government”, he added. He said that President Asif Ali Zardari handed over his powers to the Parliament, which were snatched by the dictators. He said that the dictators usurped these powers as they were afraid of the Parliament and lacked mandate.
“It was a politician like Asif Ali Zardari, who had no fear of the democratically elected Parliament”, he added. He recalled how difficult it was for the PPP government to come into power in 2008, as it had only 124 seats. He said that the predictions and statements against the PPP started from the very first day, but despite all the odds the first ever democratically elected Parliament would complete its tenure.
He said that the economic conditions of the people had improved manifold with the measures taken by the present government for their welfare. Though the people always complained of escalating prices of items of daily use, but it should be seen in the real perspective and it was better to compare the living standards of today, with those of a decade ago, he added.
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